I am a freshman at Penn State University and I've been in school for just
over two months now. The reason why I ended up enrolling into this particular
University is because of volleyball. The coaches have recruited me last
year and since Penn State is also a highly respected school I decided
that this is the right college for me. It did not take a very long time
for me to learn how demanding it is to play a sport at this high of a
level. I have to spend many hours on keeping myself in shape, working
out and playing volleyball. I consider myself just a regular athlete in
comparison to all those other individuals who make it to pros after their
college chapter of life. It's very demanding and tough to be an athlete
and it is even more difficult to be one of the greatest in your sport.
I have always admired Michael Jordan and the way how he proved day in
and day out that he's one of the top players. I truly believe that he
was and still is the greatest athlete of all time in this world. Many
reasons stand behind my statement. What makes Jordan the best is his athleticism
and talent, his devotion and love towards the game of basketball, his
hard work on and off the court, his personal respect and respect for others,
his leadership skills and his professional character.

A definition for an athlete in a Webster's dictionary states, "A
person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring
physical strength, agility, or stamina." Michael was extremely talented
for the game of basketball. He simply had the feel for the game and he
always knew what was happening around him. His touch was deadly and he
could make a shot from anywhere on the court. This is the reason why he
was the one with the basketball in the last ten seconds of the game. The
strongest part of Michael's game was his consistency. He seemed to play
his best game every time he stepped on the court. Following his talent,
Jordan was blessed with the height, strength, quickness and amazing jumping
ability. Basketball is a kind of a sport that requires a great athletic
ability. Many times I was astonished with how high and how far away Jordan
was capable of leaping and making a dunk. One year, he won the dunk contest.
The dunk that Jordan made was from the foul line and it was something
unbelievable to witness. To make it simple, Michael knew the game of basketball
inside and out. He had the technique, he added the work ethic and created
a strong mentality on top of that.

One more aspect that proves that Jordan was the best athlete is the statistics.
Michael entered the league in the mid 80s and was drafted third by Bulls.
He was exactly what the NBA needed, a spark that will change the game
of basketball and make it more exciting to watch. Jordan was a three time
NBA MVP. He won six NBA Championship titles in his career, and this is
a pretty outstanding achievement. He was the final's MVP six times. Jordan
made the All NBA First Team for seven straight years. He was also an All-Defense
Team for six straight years. One time against Cleveland on March 28, 1990,
Jordan scored sixty-nine points, which makes it his personal best. He
was also capable of scoring thirty or more points on average in seven
straight seasons. When you consider every accomplishment that I have just
listed, that is already extremely impressive. However, I am sure that
I am still missing many more. If Michael weren't such a great athlete
he would never win so many awards. Even if you are not a basketball fan,
after reading the statistics I am sure that you will realize how incredible
Jordan's achievements actually are.

Michael Jordan fully devoted himself to the game of basketball. He has
been a member of the Bulls squad for thirteen years in total. If you think
about it, this is a long time to be playing a professional sport. Therefore
if you were not devoted to the sport, you would definitely not be playing
it for this number of years. However, this is not the only reason that
shows how much Jordan loved to play basketball. During every match you
could almost see it in his eyes how much he enjoyed to be on the court
and to be competitive. Even a little thing sometimes, such as a gesture
or a phrase that he said, would display the importance of basketball in
Jordan's life. He did change the game and brought it up to another level.
The Bulls games were extremely exciting to watch when he was the captain
of the team. The intensity was high and every other team wanted to compete
against Jordan and try to beat him. But it wasn't easy because Jordan
would do the same thing to fight back his opponent. As a child I would
never miss the match when the Bulls played. I extremely enjoyed watching
the Bulls in the play-offs and witnessing the making of the history. It
is almost obvious that Jordan's enthusiasm towards the game had made me
favor it even more.

The work ethic that Michael put towards becoming the best he can possibly
be is simply remarkable. He usually had two practices a day, one in the
morning and one at night. Jordan's morning training included working out
and conditioning. Even though he did not prefer having this type of the
practice, he was still getting the job done. Then he would get on the
court at night and play basketball with his teammates. What impresses
me the most is that Jordan always practiced as if he was actually playing
a match. He was intelligent enough to realize that how he performs during
the training time will reflect in his game during the important match.
So he always gave it all he had and he worked really hard. Besides this
quality, Jordan never wanted to quit and put his head down. He is an aggressive
type of a person and he is always stepping forward, whether this is on
the court or in his personal life. He is a very confident person and this
is one of the main reasons what made him the way he is today. In one of
his interviews on TV, Michael said, "I prefer to take everything
step by step and slowly reach my goal. During that time I do encounter
failure, but I take it positively and turn it into a fuel to help me move
forward." Jordan did not accomplish everything in a matter of a short
time. After many years of devotion and hard work the results were created
and the success was in Jordan's hands.

One other value that Michael possesses is the respect that he has for
himself and for every other human being. If Jordan did not respect himself
and what he has been given in life, his life would of definitely been
different than it is right now. He always made goals for himself and he
respected those goals at the same time. With this kind of an attitude,
Jordan simply strived to achieve his goals. He did not take things the
easy way. He respected the fact that an individual has to work hard in
life to obtain success and personal happiness. It seemed that this type
of an attitude worked extremely well for Jordan. Besides having personal
respect, Michael had a great respect for other players and individuals
around him. This has a positive effect upon the people who know Jordan
and these same individuals can experience how good of a person Michael
is. Having this kind of an approach towards life brought Michael all the
respect that he has today.

One other quality that Jordan has is his leadership skills. He has always
been the true captain of Bulls. Michael had the capability of controlling
the game. His teammates followed his footsteps of hard work and they picked
up their game too. Jordan knew how to bring out the best in others. Everyone
is familiar with the duo of Jordan and Scottie Pippen. When these two
were on the court playing with each other, Pippen's game was reaching
the peak. The reason why Jordan motivated his teammates to play better
is because he knew that he could not win everything by himself. Maybe
he was able to win matches, but not the NBA Championships. Jordan understood
that only a team of players could win something as major as the NBA Championship.
He certainly had the team behind him and he certainly was the leader.

To top off Jordan's character is the class that he always showed to the
publicity. For every match in Jordan's career, he was dressed up in a
suit on the way to the site where his team was playing. This simply portrays
that Michael had his own style and this is just another aspect of him
besides the important ones, such as his unique personality and athletic
ability. During his interviews he always spoke intelligently and sincerely.
He is also a very likeable person and many companies use him for the advertisement
of their ads. Jordan is one of those people who never did anything disrespectful
in his life. He was always honest and he never went against his personal
morals, which were very noble. However, he is only a human and there were
rumors that at one time he was gambling while playing golf. This was never
proven to be true and it is something that happened in the past. The last
point that I want to bring across is that Michael always has time for
his family. He said it himself that his family brings him more joy than
basketball does and one of the reasons why he decided to retire is because
he wanted to spend more time with his children. Jordan obviously appreciates
other parts of life besides the sports and once you learn about this,
you will think highly of Michael Jordan.

For a person to be named the greatest athlete of all times, he has to
meet a number of criteria and be one of the best in them. Michael Jordan
is definitely a well-rounded person and he was able to develop various
aspects of his life. For an athlete it is essential to have the athletic
ability in your sport, but to be the greatest many other qualities are
involved too. All I have to say is that Michael possesses them. Those
individuals who had the opportunity to see him play and learn about him
can consider themselves lucky. Jordan has become an idol for so many fans
and he is still admired by so many individuals. I can only wish that there
could be more people in this world like him!